New Topics/Category Organisation Update 20:45 - Post 100

Ruu

I assume he is talking about FSA.

Dozen Wicked Words

Ruu wrote: »

I assume he is talking about FSA.

Ah yeah, just looked in full site mode and that's one of his forums, makes sense. On mobile you have no idea who mods what.

titan18

Del.Monte wrote: »

Watches & Timepieces should have been under Collectibles & Antiques before the shake-up and certainly should go there now.

Should go under Recreation and Hobbies as a separate forum instead of a sub

Wibbs

Del.Monte wrote: »

Watches & Timepieces should have been under Collectibles & Antiques before the shake-up and certainly should go there now.

Recreation and hobbies seems like a better fit alright, though not as a sub forum of collectibles and antiques. It's got higher traffic than C&A and would likely loose traffic in such a move.

I have to say I'm casually browsing far fewer forums these days. If I haven't got it in my list of subbed forums I'm not really bothering.

trellheim

I have to say I'm casually browsing far fewer forums these days.

I think you have hit the nail on the head. Really interested to know whether this was the desired outcome, and if not, what are the reversion plans ?

Wibbs

I really don't think it was the plan. Not by a long shot. The category rejig was long in coming and a bloody hard task and one that was done well IMH. The drop down thing another rejig that did need some tidying, but I feel it's made the community feel smaller for existing members and given we'd generally know where things were, it must be quite the navigation task for new folks.

Again my take, but I feel Boards grew and thrived on its wide amount of forums that seemed a little haphazard and applying some time and motion GUI to that will not fare well in the longterm. We need more members joining and I don't think this an improvement. I really hope to be proven wrong in this, but I'm not so sure it will be . And I mean that . It feels like

GLaDOS

Any chance of getting the unread forums asterisk on touch back working? It's very handy for less busy forums.

sentient_6

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Any chance of getting the unread forums asterisk on touch back working? It's very handy for less busy forums.

6 days ago I asked on this thread if the touch site issues are going to be fixed. The category headers appearing in the my forums list is annoying too.

crosstownk

I grumbled about the changes a few weeks ago but Im back with my tail between my legs because I've gotten used to it and it's grand. No biggie.

MrWalsh

I still think it's crap.

Cookie_Monster

MrWalsh wrote: »

I still think it's crap.

It's starting to really annoy me at this point. All being lumped into one small space on an otherwise large screen

Hollister11

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

It's starting to really annoy me at this point. All being lumped into one small space on an otherwise large screen

Yea, its ridiculous. And i hate the Adverts.ie tab.

_Kaiser_

I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've ventured beyond My Forums in the last few weeks - and that's not me "fighting the power", it's just I can't be arsed trawling through a condensed single menu when there's no reason for it! It's not like Boards.ie is on physical pages with limited space.

Would love to see the stats on traffic in the last few weeks though, particularly for the less popular forums (ie: not AH, Motors etc). What's even more frustrating is the attitude from the site staff to the whole thing and feedback its generated!

ThisRegard

Yip, my morning rounds during my tea of the site is pretty much restricted to My Forums and more time on other sites.

If I need another I don't use the menu but type in the address bar. If it's not there I just don't bother.

my3cents

ThisRegard wrote: »

Yip, my morning rounds during my tea of the site is pretty much restricted to My Forums and more time on other sites.

If I need another I don't use the menu but type in the address bar. If it's not there I just don't bother.

I think someone needs to ask the question how did people build up their list of My Forums?

The way it is now I don't see how new users will ever get that far.

_Tombstone_

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

What's even more frustrating is the attitude from the site staff to the whole thing and feedback its generated!

+1. What is the actual sense in this?

I had to do a search for Bargain Alerts after I noticed I hadn't checked it in over a week. lol. Couldn't find it.

Dades

_Tombstone_ wrote: »

I had to do a search for Bargain Alerts after I noticed I hadn't checked it in over a week. lol. Couldn't find it.

Bargain Alerts is in the same place it always was (lol). Under Business & Finance; Consumer.

Or you could just type "b-a-r" into the search box to get this:




I suspect you were more interested in not finding it then finding it.

Dyr

Its still pish.


See the admins, cmods etc are still outraged by the lack of kool aid drinking among the congregation

Dades

Bambi wrote: »

See the admins, cmods etc are still outraged by the lack of kool aid drinking among the congregation

I've always agreed the new dropdown is not fit for purpose. But if people fail to find a regularly used forum that hasn't moved, I don't think that particular problem is with the site.

Lovely Bloke

All forums have moved!

padd b1975

Any chance of a rough timeliness as to when we will see the end product?

Dav

We have, by the way, since the changes went live, said that the current menu is not fit for purpose either, but no one seems to want to remember that when they're posting here.

It's also made practically no difference to our overall traffic, so people are definitely browsing as much as ever, but that's not an excuse or a reason for further delay, just a reminder that once again, we are well aware it's not right and we are working on fixing it and that we have access to the big numbers which I would respectfully ask you to remember won't always line up with your individual experience of using the site day to day. Those same big numbers don't tell us the full tale either so I'd imagine the reality is somewhat in-between both sides of this - this is why you are always consulted when we make these changes folks.

I'm not sure where we are with a timeline padd, but I'll do my best to get that answered tomorrow.

Spear

The DRP tags don't match the categories now though.

Red Alert

Dav, perhaps you could revert it to the old bar until you get a better one? It has now been openly said that it's not working, so I presume that you can wind back to it in whatever source control system you're using?

Boards.ie: Chris

Red Alert wrote: »

Dav, perhaps you could revert it to the old bar until you get a better one? It has now been openly said that it's not working, so I presume that you can wind back to it in whatever source control system you're using?

Given the need to revamp and rename the categories this was really the best option until the new setup gets rolled out. As Dav has said we are working on much better functionality for the menu but it's likely going to have to roll out with the new site design.

For reference, this is how the old menu would look now if we left it be after the category changes:

Zymurgist

Are there any mock-ups of the new site design?

Cookie_Monster

Boards.ie: Chris wrote: »

For reference, this is how the old menu would look now if we left it be after the category changes:

so, better then.
why not do that?

Overheal

My gripe with the menu layout: while functionally it does better with touch screens on PCs Laptops and Tablets, all-around (mouse included) it annoyingly also ignores standard conventions - I hate it when that happens. That's why I prefer say SolidWorks to Creo for my work - One uses the same Human-Computer Interaction models as the Windows OS, and the other just said "Fcuk it, we'll try it ourselves," and made complete pants of it. For example: Start areas of programs, and Menus. Start areas are usually either located in corners or very prominent in the middle (like the dock in OSX). The Topics drop-menu is difficult enough to see up there: when you think about it, it either needs to be on the Left where "Talk to..." is, where most new users will instinctively first look for it, or in the right, where "Adverts.ie" is, because that's where the "My Forums" customizable menu is, which would be very functional.

Also, "=" (3 horizontal lines) has unwittingly and universally become accepted as the new icon for "Menu," in the current era. It's also used on the touch site, my feeling is the 2 versions of the site should use that button consistently.

Beasty

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

so, better then.
why not do that?

Is it better? We've already seen a number of posters complaining about the hover feature which often results in the wrong sub menu appearing. Having 4 on top of each other would be a disaster unless you drop the hover feature altogether (which then adds another click to the process which seems to defeat the object)

hullaballoo

Overheal wrote: »

Also, "=" (3 horizontal lines) has unwittingly and universally become accepted as the new icon for "Menu," in the current era.

I don't care how special a character is, I hope they never develop any form of wit!